edgecity

Here’s the letter I wrote to Senator Schumer this morning:

Senator Schumer,

Yesterday, you were quoted as saying:

”When Judge Mukasey came before the Senate judiciary committee last month he refused to state waterboarding as torture. That was unsatisfactory, that was wrong. That will be a blemish on judge Mukasey’s distinguished career for as long as he lives. But he has made it clear that if Congress passed further legislation in this area, the President would have no legal authority to ignore it…”

Your confirmation of Mukasey was unsatisfactory, wrong. This will be a blemish on YOUR distinguished career for as long as YOU live. There’s no ambiguity about waterboarding as torture, nor need for new law–legal precedent has been set for decades. You have abandoned reason and morality. You have abandoned your duty to provide checks and balances to the Executive branch by choosing to overlook Mulasey’s position. You have abandoned America, Senator.

Of course you know all this. Why then, have you allowed his confirmation?

Since when does an admonishment provide an adequate substitute for the rule of law, checks and balances, and morality?

Dear Senator,

Since Judge Mukasey is unwilling to answer a simple yes or no, when asked if waterboarding is torture, by saying that it depends upon the circumstances, he is saying that it is not illegal. And yet legal precendent has been set.

The United States knows quite a bit about waterboarding. The U.S. government — whether acting alone before domestic courts, commissions and courts-martial or as part of the world community — has not only condemned the use of water torture but has severely punished those who applied it.

After World War II, we convicted several Japanese soldiers for waterboarding American and Allied prisoners of war. At the trial of his captors, then-Lt. Chase J. Nielsen, one of the 1942 Army Air Forces officers who flew in the Doolittle Raid and was captured by the Japanese, testified: “I was given several types of torture. . . . I was given what they call the water cure.” He was asked what he felt when the Japanese soldiers poured the water. “Well, I felt more or less like I was drowning,” he replied, “just gasping between life and death.”

By voting to confrm Judge Muskasy, YOU are condoning the use of waterboarding. Is that your position?

Please restore the rule of law and vote against the Mukasey nomination. Why isn’t this all obvious to you? What are you afraid of? Why won’t you stand to defend against tyranny?

Dear Senator Schumer,

I read on cnn.com that you said this:

“When an administration so political, so out of touch with the realities of governing and so contemptuous of the rule of law is in charge, we are never left with an ideal choice. Judge Mukasey is not my ideal choice. However, Judge Mukasey, whose integrity and independence is respected even by those who oppose him, is far better than anyone could expect from this administration.”

So, knowing that Mukasey will still grant executive powers far beyond the intention of our Constitution, you say “Well, OK, our President is politically extreme, so let’s let him nominate someone who is slightly less extreme because it could be worse.” Huh? You know this man will not respect the Constitution, and yet you are willing to confirm him because the President is making a concession by sending you a slightly less extreme anti-constitution Bush loyalist? Why are you choosing to fail our country, knowing what you are doing? Why? What are you afraid of, retribution by the Bushies?

Please don’t sell America down the river again. Deny Mr. Bush his vision of monarchical presidental powers. Grant us Americans the security of the rule of law. Vote NO.

Senator Schumer,

Just when I thought the soul of America might be restored, then came You.

Is waterboarding torture, yes or no? You know the answer to this question, don’t you, Sir? Maybe you don’t.

Listen to Senator Leahy for the moral guidance you apprently lack:

“No American should need a classified briefing to determine whether waterboarding is torture. Waterboarding was used at least as long ago as the Spanish Inquisition. We prosecuted Japanese war criminals for waterboarding after World War II.”

I hope you’ll see the error of your ways and change your mind about confirming Mr. Mukasey. Why can’t we get a simple answer to this simple question:

Is waterboarding torture, yes or no?

Is that a morally ambiguous question, Senator?

Senator Feinstein,

I urge you to reconsider your decision to allow Mr. Mukasey to continue the confirmation process. Now, more than ever, the morals we have stood for as a nation are under attack by those who would compromise long standing standards of conduct with regard to the treatment of prisoners. We need an Attorney General that’s willing to state explicitly what and what is not torture. Why don’t you agree, Ms. Feinstein? Is waterboarding torture or not? Why won’t you demand a yes or no answer to that question from Mr. Mukasey? Is this a morally ambiguous question for you, Ms. Feinstein?

Even though I no longer vote in California, most of my family does. I promise I will urge them to help vote you out of office when you come up for re-election. You see, their morals are not ambiguously defined. Waterboarding IS torture. They know it, I know it. Why don’t you know it?

Dear Senator Leahy,

America is at a moral crossroads, and you sir, are one who will help decide whether our country restores its moral integrity or continues down this perilous path to ruin.

Will you confirm Michael Mukasey?

Consider this about waterboarding:

“That we are even having a debate about this question, and that it is not a foregone conclusion that someone who claims not to know whether waterboarding is torture cannot possibly be confirmed as Attorney General, is a testament to the moral degradation of our country, and of our political discourse.”

It’s time to stop the Bush Administration.

Please sir, show up for your country, demand a yes or no answer to this question:

Is waterboarding torture or not?

If yes, then continue the confirmation process. If no, send him on his way. Today.

My frustration, anger and outrage over what I see our current Administration doing has led me to lash out. To do some name calling. Some lambasting. Some ranting and raving. Well, I’m through, finished. It isn’t working.

At this point in time I’m wanting only one thing from the President, Vice-President and Attorney General– their resignations. I want them to walk out of their offices, hat in hand.

I’m not willing anymore to hurt myself by concurrently harboring rage and hopelessness. Or subject my friends to being near me during a rant, alientaing them whilst they scratch their heads wondering what all the fuss is about.

Hating these people won’t help. Whether it be a very, very, bad acting executive branch, or a legislative branch frozen with deer-in-headlights fear that inhibits some “right” action. Name calling, accusations, counter-punches and innuendo do not move us toward a better tomorrow. No matter where these true evils come from or are directed at.

The truth is I don’t trust our media to provide accurate, uncensored information for me as a citizen to make sound judgements about the efficacy of our government’s actions, or to even be able to confirm the accuracy of world events or the veracity of public official’s statements.

The truth is I don’t trust the Bush Adminstration from top to bottom. Their lack of accountability through the use of executive privilege to avoid transparency, the politicization of nearly everything, the wire taps, fired attorneys, Iraq rationalizations, dismal katrina response, and continuous assertions about Hussein and Al Qaeda that evidence strongly refutes, leaves me wholly bankrupt of any faith in their integrity.

The truth is I don’t trust Congress anymore either. While they fiddle, Rome burns. They want to move carefully. They are being careful all right, trying to put out a raging fire with a squirt gun. Our country is burning. What shall they do to save it? Seek a Special Prosecutor to investigate Mr. Gonzales? Squirt.

So let’s be clear about something. I not willing to hate Mr. Bush or any of our government officials for one more second. However, I do want to stop them from bringing ruin to this country or at least long term damage to the Constitution of the United States. Impeachment is the only and rightful remedy for the Constitutional crisis that the Bush Administration has created.

We all agree– we want a secure country with access to lots and lots of cheap oil that enables our luxurious american lifestyle. But not like this. Not like this.

Will you act? Will you call Congress and tell them they are failing their Constitutional duty to enforce checks and balances by impeaching the President and Vice President?

I have, I do and I will.

At the end of Attorney general Alberto Gonzales’ testimony, Republican Senator Arlen Specter (R - PA) told Mr. Gonzales and I quote, “I don’t trust you”.

As I follow along the proceedings investigating the firing of US Attorneys, I think about all the Bush Administration actvities that leave me queasy and uncomfortable.

1. the commuting of Scooter Libby
2. the outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame, and never holding anybody accountable
3. clear FISA violations regarding domestic surveillance
4. the Bush Administration changing their justifications for the war in Iraq over time and acting as if they hadn’t
5. no WMD in Iraq
6. People indefinitely held without representation in Guantanamo
7. Never holding any high level US officials accountable for Abu Ghraib, nor apologizing to the Iraqi people for it
8. the erroneous claim that Saddam Hussein had anything to do with 9/11
9. somewhere between 40k and 100k americans people mercenaries with guns are in Iraq as security forces and they are not soldiers, but employees of a company called Blackwater funded by me and  you, and Congress doesn’t even know how many there are!
10. writing more signing statements(over 700) in this Administration than all of the previous Administrations combined dating back to George Washington, clearly as a way of circumventing established laws and practices.
11. blaming everybody else when things don’t go well
12. the list goes on and on.

That uneasy feeling is fear. Fear that our democracy, as we know it, is coming to end, and afraid that most of this country doesn’t know anything about it.

President Bush, I don’t trust you.

Vice-President Cheney, I don’t trust you.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, I don’t trust you.

Carl Rove, I don’t trust you.

Tony Snow, I don’t trust you.

The democratic Congress sees these things happening, yet they fail to stop or even impede the Bush Adminstration from dismantling our Republic and remaking it in their own image. And seeing that that scares me even more. How can we trust any of them now?

I think I finally understand why Bush can’t fire Gonzales. Attorney General Gonzales is one of the major plugs in the dam holding back the reservoir of White House cover-ups. So if Gonzo goes, the Senate must confirm a new AG, and guess what? Congress won’t let a lackey through who will do Bush’s bidding and the dam will burst. So the White House must keep their loyal, lapdog AG in place- it’s a question of survival.

The evidence against Gonzales is now so overwhelming, that any sane President would have to demand his resignation. Unless of course that Presidency would crash and burn as a result. What would a law-abiding AG find in Gonzo’s absence? Just the trail of evidence leading to the long line of politically motivated actions and illegal operations in full swing on Pennsylvania Avenue.

Gonzales’ testimony over the past couple of days would be rolling-on-the-floor laughable if it weren’t an insult to every citizen of the United States. The inquiring Senators were definitely NOT amused.

Here’s a video about this very subject from Talking Points Memo.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ArwXQFMF9qI&feature=RecentlyWatched&page=1&t=t&f=b

Would somebody please just ask John Ashcroft?

More evidence pours in confirming the deceitful character of Alberto “I don’t recall” Gonzales, the slimiest public official since slime was first recognized as an effective social lubricant by fascists over 70 years ago.

Seems Alberto can’t keep his lies straight.

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/05/19/alberto-gonzales-is-a-liar/#more-17483

 Just yesterday, Alberto was caught blatantly lying by Jon Stewart and company:

 http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/05/18/jon-stewart-catches-gonzales-lying-about-mcnulty/